THE funding available for police in Cumbria looks set to increase by more than £7m, with council taxpayers expected to foot more of the bill.

The move comes after the Government provisionally increased funding by £970m, with £509m of this coming from an option to increase the precept to its maximum level.

But police chiefs have insisted that the move is necessary if the force is to avoid slashing officer numbers.

Members of the Cumbria Police and Crime Panel will consider today whether to support the tax hike “without qualification or comment”, support the precept and make recommendations; or veto the increase.

Under the proposals which are now in the consultation phase, the precept will rise by £24 a year for Band D properties, an increase of 10 per cent.

This represents a precept rise of £233 to £257.

The cash will pay for keeping on an additional 25 police officers as well as recruiting another 20 officers.

According to the briefing due to be presented to the Cumbria Police and Crime Panel on Monday, without the increase “there would be no other alternative other than to reduce officer numbers”.

Several consultations nation-wide have reported that the additional funding will not sufficiently match further costs arising from increased demand, complex and serious crime and police pension reforms.

However, some forces, including Cumbria, are planning for more officers as part of their financial planning.

County-wide, the provisional resource will see a cash increase from £102.9m in 2018/19 to £110m in 2019/20.

A breakdown of the resource funding for Cumbria Police:

Home Office Core Grant – £28.9m.

Ex-Department for Communities and Local Government Formula Funding – £31m

Legacy Council Tax Grants – £4.8m

Pensions Grant 1.2m

Capital Grants – £40,000 (same as 2018/19)